Author Waller leaves large estate gift to alma mater

By Barbara Coffman

Robert James Waller Jr., author of The Bridges of Madison County, has named his alma mater the recipient of an estate gift with an estimated value well into the seven-figure range.

In establishing his estate gift for Indiana University, Waller designated four specific areas of the university: the School of Music, the Kelley School of Business, the University Libraries and the Research and University Graduate School (RUGS).

Waller received his Ph.D. degree from the School of Business in 1968. While a student in Blooomington, he played guitar and sang at a local Holiday Inn to cover his living expenses.

“Some 30 years out, the old emotions are still there: the sense of warmth and gratitude I felt all those years ago and still feel toward IU as an institution,” wrote Waller in a recent Indiana Alumni magazine article.

After graduation, Waller returned to his home state of Iowa where he taught at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls and served as dean of the business school there.

The Bridges of Madison County was a best-selling novel that was made into a Steven Spielberg-produced film. He also composed songs for the album, The Ballads of Madison County, released in 1993. He has since written four books and published a book of photographs.

“The university is very pleased to have welcomed such a unique and multi-talented student as Robert Waller here so many years ago,” said IU President Myles Brand. “With this generous gift, IU is enriched not only by his gratitude for his graduate years at the School of Business but also by his enduring appreciation of music, literature and research.”

A bequest to the School of Music will eventually establish the Robert J. Waller Sr. and Robert J. Waller Jr. Chair in jazz studies.

The Kelley School of Business will receive a bequest to name the courtyard in the Corporate and Graduate Center in Bloomington.

The University Libraries will receive a bequest of copyrights to all his literature, art and music, and RUGS will receive a bequest of Waller’s ranch in Texas for preservation and for research use.

The gift will be managed by the IU Foundation, which has raised and received $109.1 million from more than 100,000 donors in the last fiscal year, placing IU among the top 20 institutions in the country in voluntary support.

http://www.iuf.indiana.edu/

‘Some 30 years out, the old emotions are still there: the sense of warmth and gratitude I felt all those years ago and still feel toward IU as an institution.’

—Robert James Waller Jr.